A total 54,876 farmers in seven districts — Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri and Gurugram — have sought compensation for their bajra, cotton, paddy and other crops due to the incessant rain that lashed the region for three consecutive days last week.

They have filed claim applications at local offices of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department to get compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana. All these are enrolled under the PMFBY, while sources claimed that the number of uninsured farmers who suffered crop losses was much more than this.

They have now no option except to seek financial aid from the sgovernment to cope with the situation. On getting the claim applications, the district authorities have started uploading the complaints on the government portal to conduct physical surveys for finding out the actual losses.

Balwant Shahran, Deputy Director (Agriculture), Mahendragarh and Charkhi Dadri, said villages under Dadri and Bond blocks in Charkhi Dadri district were the worst-affected, where losses up to 35% in bajra crop had been witnessed.

“Similarly, Mahendragarh, Satnali and Kanina blocks have recorded estimated damage up to 40% in bajra and 30% in cotton. Since there was late sowing of crops in Mahendragarh, the losses here are more than in other districts.”

Aatma Ram Godara, Deputy Director (Agriculture), Bhiwani, said the bajra, cotton and moong crops had suffered estimated losses up to 40% in the district. Though rains wreaked havoc on the crops across the district, villages under the Bawani Kheri and Bhiwani blocks were the worst-hit.

Jaswinder Saini, Deputy Director (Agriculture), Rewari, said the crops had suffered considerable losses in the Jatusana, Bawal and Dharuhera blocks.

Meanwhile, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), via a memorandum to the CM, has demanded the withdrawal of a notification asking the distressed farmers to apply for claims on the government portal within 72 hours. “It will exclude most of the farmers from the compensation as they can’t upload the losses within 72 hours due to the lack of knowledge. Hence, a special girdawari should be conducted at the earliest to ascertain the actual loss. Insurance firms should also be asked to honour the claims of the crops,” said Inderjit Singh, state vice-president, AIKS.

He demanded that all loan instalments should also be waived in the wake of massive damage to the crops.

Source - https://www.tribuneindia.com